HAMILTON, N.Y. ? The Monmouth University men's basketball team fell to Colgate, 63-60 Friday evening at Cotterell Court in their 2007-08 season opener. Monmouth was led by the duo of Jhamar Youngblood (Elizabeth, N.J./St. Patrick's) and Whitney Coleman (Salem, Conn./Easts Lyme), who scored 20 and 17 points apiece in the game.
R.J. Rutledge (Baldwin, N.Y./Northfield Mount Herman Prep) missed a three-pointer at the buzzer that would have tied the game after Colgate's Willie Morse made one of two free throws. Youngblood hit two free throws to cut the Colgate lead to one at 61-60 with 23 seconds left, and the Hawks forced a turnover on the next possession, but Youngblood's shot rimmed out with seven seconds left. Coleman drilled a three-pointer from the right baseline to cut the Colgate lead to 60-58 with 1:35 left in the second half.
"We had chances to win it late, Jhamar had an open look and R.J. had a good look as well," said head coach Dave Calloway. "The little things cost us. You can't shoot 50 % from the foul line on the road in a close game and expect to win."
Colgate started the game on a 9-2 run the first four minutes of action before back-to-back floaters by Youngblood and Coleman cut the lead to three at the 14:57 mark of the first half. The host's lead remained three at 11-8 with 11:49 showing before halftime following an Alex Nunner (Leibnitz, Austria/Bhak Bruck Mur) step back jumper.
The Hawks cut the lead to two at 14-12 following a sequence where Rickie Crews (Westville, N.J./Deptford) had a lay up, then blocked a shot on the other end, and scored following a Youngblood miss in transition at the 11:20 mark. The Raiders lead swelled to seven at 23-16 following five straight points from Willie Morse off the Colgate bench at the 7:25 mark of the opening half. A Youngblood lay-in that was goaltended cut the Colgate lead to nine at 29-20 at the 3:16 mark of the first half.
The Raiders held a 31-20 lead before Monmouth went on a 10-0 run to close the first half, keyed by six straight Youngblood points and a three-pointer from R.J. Rutledge, his first collegiate bucket. Nunner beat the first half buzzer with a pull-up three-pointer from the top of the key to make the halftime score 31-30.
The Hawks pushed their run to 22-4 by taking a 42-35 lead at the 15:58 mark of the second half behind six straight Youngblood baskets and a Nunner three to open the second half. The Hawks upped their lead to nine, their biggest of the game up to that point, with 11:55 left in the game following five straight Coleman points, including a shot-clock beating, banked in three-pointer from the top of the key. From the 3:09 mark of the first half until the 14:10 point of the second half, Monmouth outscored Colgate 28-8 to take their nine point lead.
Colgate got right back in the game with a run of their own keyed by three-pointers from Kyle Roemer and Morse to take a 54-51 lead with 6:05 left in the game. Monmouth went nearly five minutes without a field goal until Coleman canned a three at the 7:20 mark to allow the Raiders back in the game as they scored nine straight during the run.
The hosts retook the lead, gaining a five point advantage at 58-53 following a Roemer pull up jumper and Morse three-pointer.
In the game Monmouth started two true freshmen in James Hett (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrel) and Nick DelTufo (Mendham, N.J./West Morris Mendham) and a red-shirt freshman Dutch Gaitley (Haverford, Pa./Archbishop Carroll), marking the first time since 1998 coach Dave Calloway has started mutilple first-year players.
Monmouth returns to action on Sunday, November 11 when they travel to take on Seton Hall at 1:00 p.m. The game will be the Pirate's first at the new Prudential Center in Newark and will be televised o SportsNet New York.
